Call Studentships 2025 reaches new record number of applications

The Call Applications Studentships Doctorates 2025 from the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) received a record number of applications: 4,169. The Call, which ended on April 16, saw an increase of 11.2% compared to last year's edition. In the general application line, 3,435 applications were submitted, and 734 were submitted to Call the specific line in a non-academic environment. In total, this Call to award 1,550 Studentships, of which 550 are in a non-academic environment.

The main novelty of this edition of Call the contractualization of Studentships, a process that will now be handled by the institutions indicated by the candidates after confirmation. This new model strengthens the link between institutions and their doctoral students, fostering greater proximity in the scientific and administrative monitoring of processes. It is also a first step towards enabling doctorates to be undertaken in the future under alternative regimes to the Research Scholarship Statute (EBI) – for example, the recently enacted Scientific Research Career Statute (ECIC), which provides for the possibility of undertaking doctorates under employment contracts. Confirmation of the institutions' association with the applications will take place from April 22 to May 7, as indicated on the respective Call pages: General application line and Specific application line in a non-academic environment.

The specific application line in a non-academic environment, a commitment by FCT in the four most recent editions of Call, saw a 21.7% increase in the number of applications submitted compared to the previous edition, proving the growing interest of candidates in developing work plans leading to a doctoral degree in contexts that are not purely academic. Overall, there was a 9.2% increase compared to the 2024 edition.

Of the total number of applicants, 54.3% are women and 45.7% are men. With an average age of 30, there are no significant deviations from what has historically occurred in previous editions of this Call. Of the applications submitted, 3,535 propose work plans to be carried out in Portugal, 559 are Studentships , with work plans to be carried out in Portugal and abroad, and 75 are Studentships a work plan to be carried out only abroad.

Within the general application line, the scientific area of Social Sciences received the most applications (25.4%), followed by Engineering and Technology (21.6%), Humanities (17.8%), Medical and Health Sciences (12.2%), Natural Sciences (10.7%), Exact Sciences (8.4%), and Agricultural Sciences (3.9%). In the specific application line in a non-academic environment, the area of Engineering and Technology Sciences attracted the most applicants (38%). This area, together with Exact Sciences (5.9%), accounts for 44% of applications in this line; followed by Medical and Health Sciences (20.8%) and Social Sciences and Humanities (19.1%).

Companies account for around 45.5% of the non-academic host entities indicated by candidates, with the remaining 54.5% including other entities, namely public administration entities, state laboratories, collaborative laboratories, health-related entities, museums, non-governmental associations, technology and innovation centers, among others. This fact, together with the significant increase in demand for this type of Studentship since the first edition in 2022, indicates a growing openness on the part of non-academic entities to host doctoral students.

The provisional results of this Call expected to Call available in early August 2025, with the final results expected to be announced in November.

This fulfills the FCT's mission and objective of promoting the enhancement of scientific knowledge in all areas and encouraging growing collaboration between academia and the non-academic world—business, culture, public administration, health, technologies—in order to create, on the one hand, conditions for greater employability of researchers and, on the other, to respond, through increasing qualifications, to the specific needs of Portuguese society. It should also be noted that, in line with the rules of the previous edition, all applications in a non-academic environment must include at least one academic host institution, as well as an intersectoral guidance team, promoting greater proximity and more opportunities for collaboration between R&D institutions and the diversity of institutional and activity contexts with which their scientific areas are related.

FCT Doctoral Studentships are competitively awarded grants funded by the State Budget and the European Social Fund to support research plans in all areas of knowledge leading to a doctoral degree. These Studentships doctoral students to devote themselves exclusively to their research, thereby contributing to the scientific and technological development of the country. Currently, the FCT has more than 7,200 Studentships in progress, with 1,868 new Studentships awarded in 2024, of which 1,508 were awarded under the previous edition of this Call.

The FCT's support for this Call to an estimated annual investment of more than €26 million, plus the payment of tuition fees to the institutions that will award doctoral degrees, personal accident insurance for scholarship holders, and the assumption of the costs resulting from contributions to the first bracket for all scholarship holders who join the voluntary social security scheme. Overall, it is estimated that the FCT's annual investment in granting these new Studentships €33 million, totaling a global investment of €133 million at the end of the program.

All information about the 2025 edition of Call Studentships Call is constantly updated on the respective Call pages: General application line and Specific application line in a non-academic environment.